This invention relates to conveyors such as for conveying livestock feed, and in particular to chain conveyors having long spans which require some means of intermediate support to avoid sagging and accompanying leakage of feed or other conveyed material from the conveyor.
It is common for conveyor manufacturers and retailers to manufacture and stock chain conveyors in sections of a few different predetermined lengths, and to choose and assemble a number of different lengths to arrive at the overall length specified by the customer. An example of such an assembly is shown in FIG. 1, wherein two sections 10 and 12 of a conveyor 14 are bolted together by means of a joining plate 16 on the facing side and a similar plate (not shown) on the opposite side, to form a long conveyor. When assembled and installed, however, if support is only provided at the ends thereof, a gap 18 could develop, as shown in FIG. 2, at the junction between the two sections. Such gaps could cause leaks and loss of feed, and certainly loss of efficiency in transport of the feed. To prevent sagging and thus avoid these gaps, extra support had to be provided between the ends, whether from above or below, resulting in extra expense of parts and labor in installation. A market thus exists for such modular construction accomplished without the added expense of additional intermediate support of the conveyor sections.
This invention relates to improvements to the apparatus described above and to solutions to the problems raised or not solved thereby.